WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2006  Publicizing more images depicting alleged abuse of detainees at Iraqi's Abu Ghraib prison could bring harm to U.S. servicemembers, a senior Defense Department official said here today. The release of more Abu Ghraib images "could only further inflame and possibly incite unnecessary violence in the world and would endanger our military men and women that are serving in places around the world," DoD spokesman Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters.

"The abuses at Abu Ghraib have been fully investigated," Whitman said. "As you know, it's been the policy of this department - it has been and continues to be - that all detainees in our custody will be treated humanely."

Previously unpublished still and video images of alleged abuse of Iraqis held at Abu Ghraib prison were broadcast today on Australian television, according to media reports.

Whitman said he was aware of the reports, but noted he hasn't seen or evaluated the images in question.

"If we have something else to put out on this, we will," he told reporters.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has apologized to Iraqis who were abused by U.S. military members at Abu Ghraib. The secretary also has commented about the existence of additional, unpublished, still and video images that depict alleged abuse at Abu Ghraib.

There "are many more photographs and indeed, some videos," Rumsfeld told legislators during a May 2004 Senate hearing. Some members of Congress have viewed those images, which are said to be especially graphic.

Whitman said more than 25 people of both enlisted and commissioned rank were held accountable for criminal acts and other misconduct associated with prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.

Army Spc. Joseph Darby brought the issue to the attention of U.S. authorities when he delivered digital images depicting the alleged crimes to a military detective at the prison in January 2004. The scandal erupted publicly in May that year.

"The images that were brought to the attention of the chain of command at Abu Ghraib were images that were part of the investigations and the prosecutions that occurred," Whitman said. He added he didn't have any specific information whether the images broadcast on Australian television were part of the group of Darby-provided images.

Whitman said some U.S. citizens have filed litigation under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain access to some 70 previously unpublished Abu Ghraib-related images.

The Abu Ghraib scandal prompted DoD to launch a comprehensive review of its worldwide detention operations, Whitman said. That review, he said, produced 600 separate criminal investigations and 200 prosecutions.

"When there have been abuses, this department has acted upon them promptly, investigated them thoroughly and, where appropriate, prosecuted individuals," Whitman said.

The MSM doen't care! Time for President Bush to Follow President Lincoln's example and start locking up the seditionists now matter what their imagined status in the US. Then encourage PMs Blair and Howard to do the same.

Congress authorized the invasion of Iraq, but I'm not sure if we are officially in a state of war. The U.S. has gotten out of the habit of officially declaring war since the opening of the Second World War.

Maybe we should return to that practice, although the war against Islamic terrorism is an irregular kind of situation. But I agree. We need to revive the legitimacy of charges for treason, desertion in time of war, and all of the rest of the time-honored practices that our country followed in the past.

Sulzberger should be in jail for life. Keller should be in jail for life. The reporter and editors of Newsweak should be in jail for life for their false report on koran flushing. These often false and misleading reports have led to many deaths, kidnappings, bombings, and murders against us and our allies, and the people responsible for them should be punished.

And now we have Al Gore over in Saudi Arabia, being generously paid with Arab oil money to tell an Arab audience that the United States and its people discriminate against Arabs. Nice.

The MSM are the biggest hypocrites I've ever seen. In fact, they are more than hypocrites...they are provocateurs. Many of them won't publish the cartoons for fear of a Muslim backlash (or personal threats to themselves)...yet they will gladly show these photos to the world knowing what it will do.

These are the same people who dared to chastize the administration for showing some pictures of Iraqis in custody at the start of the war; or, Saddam's dead sons, claiming that it was humiliating, and an abuse of the Geneva Convention.

Yet, here they are wanting to show captured Muslims in the most humiliating of circumstances, knowing full well that it will endanger US soldiers and only create more anti-Americanism. Just like the flushing-Koran story, the media will do anything that advances their anti-war/Bush agenda, even if it means endagering us all.

7
posted on 02/15/2006 5:44:01 PM PST
by cwb
(Liberalism is the opiate of the *asses)

I just saw the still photos on yahoo. I'm still looking for proof of torture. What I saw were lots of guys being forced to sit, stand and bend over while wearing their birthday suits. They were not being tortured, however.

I saw a guy with a cut across his throat. No context as to how, when or why he had a cut there.

I saw a guy with burns on his forearm. Who burned him? Did he burn himself? Did one of his IED's go off when he was too close to it? We don't know.

And absolutely no indication is given as to why these vermin are in Abu Ghraib. What acts of sadism, terror and murder did they commit on our troops or on innocent Iraqi civilians, before they were made to stand with bags on their head.

8
posted on 02/15/2006 5:52:06 PM PST
by Choose Ye This Day
("Without God all things are permissible." -- Dostoevsky)

Do you not understand the MSM wants to harm the troops. They would not publish the cartoons of the alien Mohab but let them have pictures that will get Americans killed and they will publish in a minute.

Reporters and the press are scum or worse they are Traitors and should be in jail.

CNN is not showing the negative caricatures of the likeness of the Prophet Mohammed because the network believes its role is to cover the events surrounding the publication of the cartoons while not unnecessarily adding fuel to the controversy itself.

Absolutely. The MSM doesnt care if they harm American troops since theyre on the side of the terrorists. Fox News tonight revealed that the new images are related to the original images released during the initial Abu Graihb scandal and the troops implicated were in the process of being prosecuted. So heres the question: IF THEY COVER THIS OLD STORY, WHY WONT THEY COVER AL GORE IN SAUDI ARABIA TALKING ABOUT ARABS BEING ROUNDED UP AND HELD IN "DEPLORABLE" CONDITIONS? MSM: please respond.....

Oh I fully undertand that they are anti-Military, anti-War, anti-Democracy, anti-American and fully support the Socialist Revolution. We need the 1918 Sedition Act back in force or at least GW to follow the Lincoln model and lock these scum up.

hmm-mm, polls showing the American people WANT wiretapping, the Cheney thing isn't going anywhere, Patriot Act renewed - time to trot out some other non-issue, never mind whether it endangers our wonderful troops or not.

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